After the Sagar tragedy, the Madhya Pradesh police revealed a racket with Delhi

After at least 20 people died in a tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district earlier this month, police have busted a nationwide counterfeit liquor cartel with links to Delhi, they told The Hindu on Saturday (19 Sep 2026).

Officials said 14 people had been arrested in the previous two days. Among them was the owner of a chemical company in Delhi, who is accused of supplying industrial alcohol to those involved in the production of counterfeit spirits.

Investigating the first two information reports (FIRs) filed in connection with the tragedy that affected villages in Banda and Shahgarh tehsils, the police have added 22 more accused, taking the total number of accused in the cases to 52. Of these, 37 people have so far been arrested in police raids in various parts of the state, including Gwali. Morena, officials and officials.

Sagar Superintendent of Police (SP) Anurag Sujania said the police also seized several items used in the manufacture of counterfeit liquor. These included 11,050 empty bottles, 900 bottles filled with such liquor, four dyes used to print brand labels, a machine used to seal liquor bottles and a large amount of packaging raw materials. These items were seized in various raids.

Police had earlier arrested several people accused of participating in a conspiracy to manufacture and supply counterfeit liquor. The latest arrests include people accused of making the liquor and arranging the raw materials. Among those in Sagar police custody is Anupam Giri, owner of Delhi-based RN Chemicals.

Two of the main accused, Manish Lodhi and Sidhharth Kushwaha, both owners of government-licensed liquor shops and accused of supplying spurious liquor through their shops, continue to remain absconding. Mr Sujania said various teams were working to nab the remaining accused.

The SP said the accused were manufacturing counterfeit liquor under the name ‘Sagar Gold’, a popular brand of liquor in the district. He added that the accused were involved in the manufacture of adulterated liquor using toxic materials in several districts of the state in the past.

Large scale production

“During the interrogation of the arrested accused, it came to light that this type of illegal liquor production was carried out on a large scale in several districts in the past in collaboration with other people. As the only aim of this gang was to make huge profits, they used to make fake and low-quality liquor from any intoxicating liquid readily available to them. The so-called powerful common people chose such places to so-called get information about their activities,” said Mr. Sujania.

Sagar Additional SP Narendra Solanki told The Hindu that a Morena gang led by key accused Dinesh Shivhar was roped in to manufacture counterfeit liquor in Sagar’s Tatarwara village by local accused persons like Chandrabhan Rajput alias Chandu Raja, Karni Sena leader.

Mr. Solanki said it was Chandrabhan Rajput who invited Shivhare and his associates to Banda to make liquor in his village after they were brought together by Shivanjay Rajput, a 21-year-old accused from Sagar.

“Dinesh Shivhare and his companion Devendra Jatav also consumed alcohol and fell ill. Their co-workers admitted them to a private hospital in Sagar. But once they realized it was their alcohol, they let Dinesh go and headed to Morena. He died on the way while Jatav lost his sight,” another SP said.

Mr. Solanki said that based on the interrogation inputs, police teams were sent to Gwalior and Morena, where six accused, including Dinesh Shivhare’s brother Lalit Shivhare, were arrested and the manufacturing items were recovered.

Delhi connection

He said that the accused Bunty Sharma detained from Morena, who was involved in the manufacture of adulterated liquor in the past, had connected Dinesh Shivhare with a chemical supplier in Delhi.

The officer said the police learned that Shivanjay had gone to pick up five drums of chemicals at a local logistics warehouse in Sagar,

“Following this lead, we traced the drums to Delhi. A team was then dispatched to Delhi. The logistics company there did not have details of the sender, but we got the vehicle number from the CCTV footage and traced the driver who then led us to Anupam Giri. He is currently being questioned about its source and how long he has been supplying the poisonous chemicals to Mr.lanki.”

The Sagar tragedy came to light when 11 people died on September 6. The official death toll from the tragedy is 20, but local reports say the number is higher. The tragedy also caused partial to total loss of sight in several of those who consumed the liquor.

Published – 19 Sep 2026 20:58 IST